Dioxin found on two more German farms

Dioxin has been discovered in above permitted levels in eggs from two more farms in the central German state of North Rhine Westphalia, the state agriculture ministry said on Thursday.

The announcement follows news last Wednesday that eggs with dioxin content of three to six times permitted levels had been discovered by routine tests on a third farm in the state.

The two new cases were in small farms near the central German city of Duisburg, the state ministry said. The eggs came from smallholdings which made direct sales of eggs to the public rather than sales to retailers, the ministry confirmed.

The two smallholdings, one of 120 hens, the other 150, have been sealed off and are not permitted to sell more eggs. The public has been warned not to eat eggs from the farms.

How the dioxin came into the eggs is unclear and there seems to be no immediate link with the previous dioxin case, the ministry added.

The contamination at the two smallholdings had been discovered by routine food safety tests, it said.